System for feeding multiple burners

ABSTRACT

A system for feeding a plurality of burners ( 2   a,    2   b,    2   c,    2   d,    2   n ) includes a manifold ( 1 ) into which a flow of gaseous fuel is introduced via an inlet duct ( 5 ), said manifold ( 1 ) including an hollow body ( 3 ) provided with a plurality of outlets ( 6 ) each of which can be connected to a respective burner ( 2   a,    2   b,    2   c,    2   d,    2   n ), said manifold ( 1 ) further comprises distributing means ( 4 ) for selectively distributing said fuel to said burners ( 2   a,    2   b,    2   c,    2   d,    2   n ), said distributing means ( 7 ) being provided with connecting means ( 8 ) with one or more of said outlets ( 6 ).

[0001] The present invention relates to a system for feeding multiple burners, i.e. a system for feeding simultaneously a plurality of burners.

[0002] From the prior art it is known to feed simultaneously a plurality of burners through a gaseous fuel supplied to the burners via a manifold communicating with each one of the burners to be fed. The burners are normally arranged mutually parallel and the manifold is provided with mutually parallel outlets for the gaseous fuel, through which parallel flows of fuel pass that are directed to the single burners. The above-mentioned flows of fuel are mixed with air in each burner and the mixture so obtained passes through suitable openings made in the diffuser of the burner in order to be subsequently ignited by means of an ignition system, such as a pilot flame or an electric or incandescence ignition system. The burners may be equipped with a safety system which monitors the presence of the flame and interrupts the supply of fuel in the event of anomalous extinguishing of said flame, in order to prevent that the fuel flow can continue in absence of combustion, with a risk of fire or explosions in the environment surrounding the burners.

[0003] The above mentioned feeding systems of the prior art show the disadvantage that all the burners are substantially fed in the same way and therefore do not allow a differentiated feeding of the burners, that may be possibly required. Furthermore, the parallel arrangement of the burners is not suitable when a distributed heating is required, or when an aesthetic affect of the flames generated by the burners is required, said aesthetic effect requiring distributed arrangement of the burners.

[0004] The present invention intends to provide a system for feeding a plurality of burners, that allows a differentiated feeding of each burner and makes possible to arrange the burners in any space arrangement.

[0005] According to the present invention a feeding system for burners is provided comprising a manifold into which a flow of gaseous fuel is introduced, said manifold being provided with a plurality of outlets each of which may be connected to a respective burner, characterised in that said manifold comprises distributing means for selectively distributing said fuel to said burners, said distributing means being provided with connecting means for connecting said distributing means with one or more of said outlets. Due to the invention, it is possible to vary the feeding of said plurality of burners by feeding, from time to time, the number of burners necessary for providing the thermal power required by the needs of the plant in which the burners are used.

[0006] According to a further aspect of the present invention, the outlets of the manifold are connected with each burner by connecting means that allows the burners to be freely arranged with respect to the manifold.

[0007] In such a manner, the position of the burners does not depend on the geometry of the manifold and may be freely selected, so as to satisfy also aesthetic requirements in the distribution of the flames generated by the burners.

[0008] Some embodiments of the invention will be now described more in detail here below, for mere exemplifying and not restrictive purpose, with reference to the enclosed drawings, wherein:

[0009]FIG. 1 is al perspective view, partially interrupted, of a manifold feeding a group of burners, according to the invention;

[0010]FIG. 2 is a diagram that illustrates possible feeding sequences of the burners;

[0011]FIG. 3 is a sketched view of an arrangement of burners, fed by the feeding system according to the invention;

[0012]FIG. 4 is a view like FIG. 3, showing another arrangement of burners;

[0013]FIG. 5 is a view like FIGS. 3 and 4, showing a further arrangement of burners;

[0014]FIG. 6 is a sketched view showing some inter-ignition means for the burners of FIG. 5.

[0015] With reference to FIG. 1, 1 denotes a manifold according to the invention for feeding a plurality of burners 2 a, 2 b, 2 c, 2 d, 2 n (FIG. 3) with a gaseous fuel. The manifold 1, having a cylindrical shape, is provided with a body 3, inside which distributing means 4 is provided for distributing to the burners 2 a, 2 b, 2 c, 2 d, 2 n the fuel introduced into the manifold 1 through an inlet duct 5 connected to fuel supply means.

[0016] The body 3 of the manifold 1 is provided with a plurality of outlets 6 that may be connected to the burners 2 a, 2 b, 2 c, 2 d, 2 n. For example, each outlet 6 may be connected to the fuel inlet nozzle of a burner 2 a, 2 b, 2 c, 2 d, 2 n. The outlets 6 are preferably arranged along a generatrix of the cylindrical surface of the body 3.

[0017] The distributing means 4 includes a distributing body 7 of cylindrical shape that can rotate inside the body 3 of the manifold. The distributing body 7 is provided on its lateral surface with groups of openings 8 aligned along generatrices of the cylindrical surface of the distributing body 7. The distance between two consecutive openings 8 in each group is equal to the distance between two consecutive outlets of the body 3 of the manifold 1, or to a multiple of said distance, so that, by rotating the distributing body 7 in pre-established, angular positions, it is possible to cause the openings 8 of a group of openings to overlap with a group of outlets 6 of the body 3 of the manifold 1.

[0018] In addition, the distributing body 7 is associated with rotation means (not shown) that allows said distributing body 7 to be rotated inside the body 3 of the manifold I and positioned in pre-established positions. This rotation means may be of manual type, or it may comprise a stepper motor that controls the rotation of the distributing body 7, or other equivalent means.

[0019] When the distributing body 7 is positioned: in one of said pre-established angular positions, the openings 8 of a group of openings face group of corresponding outlets 6 of the body 3 of the manifold 1 and connect the interior of the distributing body 7 with said group of outlets 6. Thus, the burners 2 a, 2 b, 2 c, 2 d, 2 n connected to said group of outlets are supplied with the gas introduced in the manifold and in the distributing body 7 through the inlet duct 5.

[0020] The outlets 6 that do not face openings 8 of the distributing body 7 are occluded by the distributing body itself, so that the burners connected to them are not supplied.

[0021] In such a way, by properly arranging the openings 8 along generatrices of the outer surface of the distributing body 7, it is possible to carry out any supply sequence of the burners 2 a, 2 b, 2 c, 2 d, 2 n and to vary the supply sequence, by varying the position of the distributing body 7 inside the body 3 of the manifold 1.

[0022] In FIG. 2 a diagram is illustrated that shows two possible supply sequences of the burners 2 as a function of the rotation angle of the distributing body 7 with respect to a reference position, that, for example, may correspond to a situation where all the outlets 6 of the body 3 of the manifold 1 are occluded by the distributing body 7 and, then, no one of the burners 2 a, 2 b, 2 c, 2 d, 2 n is supplied.

[0023] The ignition sequences illustrated in the diagram of FIG. 2 are obtained by positioning the two groups of openings 8 of the distributing body 7, visible in FIG. 1, aligned with the outlets 6.

[0024] The outlets 6 of the body 3 of the manifold 1 may be connected to the respective burners 2 a, 2 b, 2 c, 2 d, 2 n by means of hoses, so that the position of the burners 2 a, 2 b, 2 c, 2 d, 2 n is completely independent from the position and the geometry of the manifold 1.

[0025] It is therefore possible to arrange the burners 2 a, 2 b, 2 c, 2 d, 2 n so as to satisfy any requirement, for example aesthetic requirements in the space distribution of the flames generated by the burners 2 a, 2 b, 2 c, 2 d, 2 n.

[0026] In FIG. 3, the burners 2 a, 2 b, 2 c, 2 d, 2 n are arranged in sequence, so that an end of the first burner 2 a is close to a first end of the second burner 2 b, a second end of the second burner 2 b is close to a first end of the third burner 2 c and so on. The first burner 2 a is associated to ignition means 9 of known type, such as a pilot flame or an electric or incandescence ignition system, suitable to produce the ignition of the fuel supplied to the burner 2 a. Due to the sequence arrangement of the burners, the ignition of the first burner 2 a produces the ignition of the second burner 2 b, and so on up to the ignition of all the burners 2 a-2 n.

[0027] In addition, the first burner 2 a may be associated with monitoring means 10 of known type, suitable to detect the presence of the combustion of the fuel supplied to the burners and to cause the interruption of the supply of fuel in the event of anomalous combustion, for example extinction or development of CO.

[0028] In FIG. 4 another possible arrangement of the burners 2 a, 2 b, 2 c, 2 d, 2 n is illustrated, in which the burners 2 a, 2 b, 2 c, 2 d, 2 n are close, with one of their ends, to the burner 2 a.

[0029] As in the example of FIG. 3, the burner 2 a is associated to ignition means 9, in order to produce the ignition of the fuel supplied to the burner 2 a.

[0030] The ignition of the fuel is transmitted to the other burners 2 b, 2 c, 2 d, 2 n through the respective end close to the burner 2 a. Furthermore, monitoring means 10 is provided in order to detect the presence of the combustion of the fuel supplied to the burners and to cause the interruption of the supply of fuel in the event of anomalous combustion, for example extinction or development of CO.

[0031] In FIG. 5 there is illustrated a variation of the system according to the invention, in which the burners 2 a, 2 b, 2 c, 2 d, 2 n are radially arranged around the manifold 1. In this case, the outlets 6 of the body 3 of the manifold 1 are radially arranged and the manifold is not provided with the distributing body 7.

[0032] In order to allow the inter-ignition of the burners 2 a, 2 b, 2 c, 2 d, 2 n, the manifold 1 is provided with inter-ignition means, that may be constituted by an annular protrusion 11 of the body 3 of the manifold 1, that is positioned above the outlets 6 and partially overlaps the diffuser of each burner 2 a, 2 b, 2 c, 2 d, 2 n. When the burners are supplied and the burner 2 a is ignited by the ignition means 9, a portion of the fuel outflowing from the diffuser of each burner 2 a, 2 b, 2 c, 2 d, 2 n is deflected in the interspaces between adjacent burners so that, when the burner 2 a is ignited, the ignition automatically propagates also to the other burners.

[0033] In practice, the materials, the dimensions and the execution details may be different from those indicated, but technically equivalent to them, without departing, from the legal domain of the present invention. 

1. A system for feeding a plurality of burners (2 a, 2 b, 2 c, 2 d, 2 n) conprising a manifold (1) into which a gaseous flow of fuel is introduced via an inler duct (5), said manifold (1) comprising an internally hollow body (3) provided with a plurality of outlets (6) each of which may be connected to a respective burner (2 a, 2 b, 2 c, 2 d, 2 n), said distributing means (7) being provided with connecting means (8) with one or more of said outlets (6).
 2. System according to claim 1, wherein said distributing means (4) comprises a distributing body (7) arranged inside said manifold (1) and rotatingly coupled with it, said connecting means (8) including a plurality of openings (8) of said distributing body (7) suitable to be connected with said outlets (6).
 3. System according to claim 1, or 2, wherein said outlets (6) are arranged along a generatrix of the surface of the body (3) of said manifold (1).
 4. System according to claim 2, or 3, wherein said openings (8) are arranged in groups along generatrices of the outer surface of said distributing body (7).
 5. System according to claim 4, wherein the distance between two adjacent openings (8) in each of said groups is equal to the distance between two of said mutually adjacent outlets (6), or to a multiple of said distance.
 6. System according to any of claims 2 to 5 and further comprising sealing means interposed between the body (3) of the manifold (1) and said distributing body (7).
 7. System according to any of preceding claims, and further comprising connecting means to connect said openings (6) to said burners (2 a, 2 b, 2 c, 2 d, 2 n).
 8. System according to claim 7, wherein said connencting means comprises hose means.
 9. System according to any of preceding claims, wherein said burners (2 a, 2 b, 2 c, 2 d, 2 n) comprise a first burners (2 a), a plurality of intermediate burners (2 b, 2 c, 2 d) and a last burner (2 n), in any relative position but such that said first burner (2 a) and said last burner (2 n) are arranged with one of their ends close to an end of one of said intermediate burners (2 b, 2 c, 2 d), each of said intermediate burners (2 b, 2 c, 2 d) being close at both ends to adjacent burners (2 a, 2 b, 2 c, 2 d, 2 n).
 10. System according to any of claims 1 to 8, wherein said burners (2 a, 2 b, 2 c, 2 d, 2 n) are arranged in such manner that one of them (2 a) is close to an end of each of the other burners. (2 b, 2 c, 2 d, 2 n).
 11. System according to claim 9, or 10, wherein one of said burners (2 a) is associated with ignition means (9) for igniting said gaseous fuel and with monitoring means (10) for monitoring the combustion of said gaseous fuel.
 12. System according to any of claims 2 to 11, wherein said distributing body (7) is associated with rotation means suitable to angularly rotate it with respect to the body (3) of the manifold (1)
 13. System for feeding a plurality of burners (2 a, 2 b, 2 c, 2 d, 2 n) comprising a manifold (1) into which a flow of gaseous fuel is introduced via an inlet duct (5), said manifold (1) comprising an internally hollow body (3) provided with a plurality of outlets (6) each of which may be connected to a respective burner (2 a, 2 b, 2 c, 2 d, 2 n), characterised in that said outlets (6) are arranged along a circumference of the outer surface of the body (3) of said manifold (1).
 14. System according to claim 13, wherein said burners (2 a, 2 b, 2 c, 2 d, 2 n) are radially arranged with respect to said manifold (1).
 15. System according to claim 13, or 14, wherein one of said burners (2 a) is associated with ignition means (9) for igniting said gaseous fuel and monitoring means (10) for monitoring the combustion of said gaseous fuel.
 16. System according to any of claims 13 to 15, wherein said manifold (1) is associated with inter-ignition means (11) suitable to assure the inter-ignition of said burners (2 a, 2 b, 2 c, 2 d, 2 n).
 17. System according to claim 16, wherein said inter-ignition means comprises an annular protrusion (11) of the body (3) of the manifold (1), which is positioned above said outlets (6) and partially covers the diffuser of each burner (2 a, 2 b, 2 c, 2 d, 2 n).
 18. A system for feeding a plurality of burners (2 a, 2 b, 2 c, 2 d, 2 n) comprising a manifold (1) into which a gaseous flow of fuel is introduced via an inlet duct (5), said manifold (1) comprising an internally hollow body (3) provided with a plurality of outlets (6) each of which may be connected to a respective burner (2 a, 2 b, 2 c, 2 d, 2 n), characterised in that said manifold (1) comprises distributing means (4) for selectively distributing said fuel to said burners (2 a, 2 b, 2 c, 2 d, 2 n), said distributing means (7) being provided with connecting means (8) with one or more of said outlets (6).
 19. System according to claim 18, wherein said distributing means (4) comprises a distributing body (7) arranged inside said manifold (1) and rotatingly coupled with it, said connecting means (8) including a plurality of openings (8) of said distributing body (7) suitable to be connected with said outlets (6).
 20. System according to claim 18, wherein said outlets (6) are arranged along a generatrix of the surface of the body (3) of said manifold (1).
 21. System according to claim 19, wherein said openings (8) are arranged in groups along generatrices of the outer surface of said distributing body (7).
 22. System according to claim 21, wherein the distance between two adjacent openings (8) in each of said groups is equal to the distance between two of said mutually adjacent outlets (6), or to a multiple of said distance. 